Thursday, January 31, 2013

And what is the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game? It is a free (in PDF form; the print version is provided at production cost with no profit for the author) old-school-style role-playing game. It is inspired by old-time Dungeons & Dragons, but contains many new-school sensibilities and comforts, especially ascending Armour Class (and no annoying THAC0) and somewhat simplified mechanics.

The core book is 154 pages long and contains EVERYTHING you need to run fun, memorable role-playing campaigns in the vein of old-time D&D. I have run an entire campaign with this ruleset and enjoyed the hell out of it.

In fact, I switched to BFRPG from D&D 3.0E in the middle of a campaign as 3.0E was a chore to prep for and was growing cumbersome to run as the PCs went up in level. I chose BFRPG as a replacement as it had ascending AC (most retro-clones back then had descending AC and some had THAC0). I must say that prepping for BFRPG and running it as the DM was loads of fun.

And best of all, EVERYTHING and ANYTHING made for BFRPG is available FREE of charge from the BRPG Download Page, tons of PDFs giving you heaps of options to customize your game.

While I have switched to ACKS, which is an even better old(ish)-school fantasy RPG IMHO, I still have a warm spot in my heart for gool ol' BFRPG. Highly recommended!

Sunday, January 27, 2013

I have made up my mind. The Lead Pile is too high - WAY too high. Several 15mm platoons, several 15mm vehicles, TWO WH40K Battleforces, a Chimera, and a whole lot of 15mm terrain, all waiting in and around my cupboard to be assembled and painted.

So I have decided to STOP buying new minis, vehicles, terrains, even rulebooks, with the exception of the Malifaux core role-book and starter-set (Miners' and Steamfitters' Union) which I have already committed into buying - until EVERYTHING I already have will be assembled and painted.

Today we had elections for the Knesset (parliament) here in Israel, which is a paid holiday for most workers, so our beloved FLGS, The Lance (warning: site in Hebrew) in Kfar Sava (near Tel-Aviv) organized a mini-convention with various wargames, wargame demonstrations and role-playing games. I attended part of it. So here's a few pictures of the convention!

Disallowed Classes
Dwarven Craftpriest - No Dwarves in this setting
Dwarven Delver (C) - No Dwarves in this setting
Dwarven Fury (C) - No Dwarves in this setting
Dwarven Machinist (C) - No Dwarves in this setting
Dwarven Vaultguard - No Dwarves in this setting
Gnomish Trickster (C) - No Gnomes in this setting
Nobiran Wonderworker (C) - No Nobirans in this setting
Thrassian Gladiator (C) - No Lizardmen in this setting
Zaharan Runeguard (C) - No Zaharans in this setting

Classes I might allow if the player has a REALLY creative argument for their inclusion
Bladedancer - would probably come from an exotic culture
Elven Courtier (C) - no real Changeling nobility
Mystic (C) - would probably come from an exotic culture

Friday, January 11, 2013

I've decided on the part of the Campaign map which will serve as the main game region for a zoomed-in regional map. This will mostly be the land around The City, as well as some wilderness - and Pagan-haunted forests - around it.

Now that I have detailed the ACKS: The Dark Project map down to the duchy level, it is time to get back up to the Principality level and set up the demand modifiers, average Principality land modifiers and so on - in a word, Macroeconomics. As this setting is well-known for its thieves, economics are more important to it than even to the default ACKS setting - after all, thieves have to know which rich merchant travels from which town to which rich port - and then rob him!

Duchy-level demand modifiers will only be done at the Regional Map level, which will mostly be in The City's domain.

What's the bottom line?
The City is always hungry for more grain, fresh and pickled vegetables, textiles and luxuries such as spices, silk and ivory, and these are imported en-mass from the Cyric breadbasket and the lush forests of Bohn. Rare books, usually imported from Cyric and Bohn, are in high demand in the City. Meanwhile, the City's Prince is now and again at war with Blackbrook over the rich agricultural land of the "no man's land" between their realms, as well as the more productive parts of the Great Forest.

Meanwhile, The City exports industrial products such as tools, weapons and armour top all its neighbours, including, ironically, its arch-rival Blackbrook - from which it imports quality timber products. The City also sells wine and spirits to Blackbrook and oil to Bohn in large quantities.

Last but not least is the subject of monster parts, which The City and Blackbrook, with all their mages, covet. These rare ingredients usually come from Bohn's rich forests, which are easier to hunt in than the Trickster-cursed Great Forest.

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